I think a big issue with my lack of enthusiasm over this album is that a) I was just a few months short of being born when it was released (thus missing out on early 80s Ozzymania) and b) these songs have been played to death on radio.

Some albums can lose their impact after you’ve heard them a million times (before you even get the album) and that’s what is happened with me, I think. I didn’t get my hands on this album (picking up Diary of a Madman as well) until a few years ago during one of my BMG Music raids. And even then, I only picked’em up because I had gotten pretty much everything else and I wanted to a least own an Ozzy album so I could know whether I was truly nonplussed by him or not.

Granted, taking a step back from familiarity, these *are * really good songs with “Mr. Crowley” being my fave and the most sinister sounding on the album with some terrific guitar work from Randy Rhoads. “Goodbye to Romance” is another personal favorite, it’s a keyboardy (new word!) ballad that falls into the “so cheesy it’s good” category.

While the songs are top notch, to this day, I still am not a fan of Ozzy’s voice. By the way, I own the 1995 reissue and shame on Sony for shrinking the album’s original cover and putting a lame new border around it. >=(